The Cranab company

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Cranab's history

ABS-service

Cranab was founded in 1963 by the Jonsson brothers, Rune and Allan. However, the manufacture of cranes had begun earlier when the Jonsson brothers had started producing purpose-built ditching buckets for ABS excavators. In 1959, the Vindeln-based company ABS-service started to manufacture cranes for the forestry industry. The first cranes were very simple. They were comprised of a cylindrical pipe (the boom) that was lifted by a hydraulic tube. At the far end, there was a wire that served as a "capture line" for the timber. Between 1959 and 1960, seven such cranes were produced. In 1961, the cranes were developed so that the boom became foldable. The boom was also equipped with a grapple. However, this lacked a rotator and was controlled by wires. From 1961 to 1962, the company expanded rapidly.

The founding of Cranab AB

In 1963, the small-scale excavator service was brought to an end and it was decided to set up a crane company. Karl-Ragnar Åström bought Rune Jonsson's shares and Cranab AB was formed. The newly formed company continued to expand and, in 1964, the building of a new factory (Cranab 1) began. Completed in the following year, the factory occupied 625 m². Towards the end of the 1960s and at the start of the 1970s, Cranab was growing and developed new models. The SK3000, SK4000, SK5000, SK7000 and SK9000 were amongst these.

Cranab outside Sweden

One year after being founded, Cranab started exporting. The first export, a hydraulic forestry crane with grapple loader, went to Finland. In 1967, the export market expanded outside the Nordic countries to include Yugoslavia and France. During the 1970's, Cranab represented around 85% of the Finnish market. Since then, Cranab has continued to expand and is now one of the world's largest crane and grapple manufacturers.